And so the smartphonification of the general purpose computer continues. This time around, though, it might actually be for the better. Microsoft has detailed two new features in Windows 8: refreshing and resetting your computer. Reinstalls will be a thing of the past.

Debian "stable" tends to be just that. However, it's painfully slow when it comes to being updated. Debian unstable is often stable as well. But to say that Debian or even Linux in general doesn't suffer from constant breakage via updates is absurd. Most Linux distros are in fact not rock solid. Linux is a 24/7 work-in-progress. That's why there's a steady flow of bug reports, fixes and/or regressions, more bug reports, etc etc etc. And speaking of regressions, ...there are plenty of those. Why? Because (mostly) untested code is merged all the time. Why? Because devs are in a rush to merge their code and/or simply don't bother considering test scenarios beyond their local setup -- and that's if in fact they even have the hardware locally.

A Linux install, as with Windows, can last a very long time when properly maintained. Neither is immune to reckless user behavior and crap package management.